Late April last year we received a letter from the HOA telling us that we need to paint our house because we were in "violation" of some code they gave. Anyway, I was really excited and not happy at the same time: excited because I HATED the color of our house especially since our next door neighbors house was the EXACT same color, not happy because we really couldn't afford it. They gave us until the middle of July to get it done. Well, the months came and gone and before we knew it it was the middle of June and we hadn't looked into painters yet. I called around and we chose this really nice company and we picked our colors. Now, mind you we have an HOA, so we had to get the scheme approved before we could paint. We FINALLY got approved and we were able to get it done before our deadline. I LOVE IT!!!
Before:
After:
It is so pretty. I absolutely love it. We have gotten a lot of compliments on it. In fact, around the corner there is a house that also had to get painted and their colors are almost identical. It was pretty funny when I saw it.
Well then, the months came and gone again and Reed was starting to outgrow the cradle in our room. We knew that we were going to convert the TV/play room upstairs into the nursery when we found out we were pregnant. I had an idea of how I wanted to paint it since I had never had a nursery before and then we had the idea to also paint the girls room while we were at it. We had to start that process by getting the TV out of the room and putting it downstairs. We had to get a new TV stand and totally rearrange our family room.
I don't have a before picture, but we put the TV where the couch was and the couch where the chase lounge and chair were. Then we got rid of the 3 little end tables that were in the middle. It worked out nice. I'm glad, I was a little worried at first.
After we got the TV moved we could start painting the girls room so that they could sleep in the nursery before we moved Reed in. It took longer than anticipated because we had strep running ramp-id through the house and Spencer had to work a lot, not to mention our high maintenance baby. Anyway, we had the Young Women come over for a service activity and they did an AWESOME job. They had the walls completely painted and the molding almost all done by the time they left that night. It didn't take Spencer and I too much longer to get the rest of the room done.
Before:
After:
Their new dresser is actually one that I used when I was little. I painted it and put new handles on it so that it would go well in their room. I LOVE how it turned out. They were way excited about it too. We sponged butterflies, dragon flies, flowers, and leaves all around their walls in the colors of their dresser.
Well, then it was Reed's turn. I had changed my mind from the first idea that I had to paint his room. I was actually inspired by Village Inn. They had renovated a few of the restaurants around us and I got the idea of the colors that we ended up with from their colors. It took Spencer and I for-EVER to get Reed's room done. We thought that it was about done, but I didn't like a detail, or lack of one, but we finally got it done. It was well worth it.
Before:
After:
I LOVE this room!!! I love how it turned out, WAY better than in my head (I love how that happens). I had originally thought of the orange stripe, but I didn't like how the orange looked against the green on the walls, seemed to not "pop". So then I had Spencer add the small brown stripe along the bottom and it REALLY made a difference. The monkey's are all too fitting for Reed, he loves to jump and climb all over. He even makes a monkey sound. The monkeys, writing, and trees are all decals. Spencer painted the leaves in the corners and on the ceiling. Better Homes and Gardens here we come! My mom made a quilt for his crib that is all jungle animals in the same colors as his room and for Christmas I made him a fleece blanket that also is a jungle theme. The kid is so dang wild it fits him perfect!!
Well, those are the improvements that we made to our house last year. Our next big thing is to redo the kitchen floor, it is driving us CRAZY! But I think we will hire someone to do it instead of doing it ourselves.
This year was hard to plan. Spencer is the WORST person to shop for and he is HORRIBLE at making decisions. As I was looking for something to make him for dinner, I came across a recipe that sounded so yummy and then I expanded from there. As I went on it started to feel like an elegant dinner so what we did was set the "mood" by dimming the lights with a lace table cloth and we all dressed up really nice.
When Spencer got home he was pretty surprised. It was awesome! We even ate like we were at a fancy restaurant: first salad, then entree', then dessert. It was fun.
We started off with an apple and celery salad with homemade blue cheese dressing:
The girls didn't like the dressing too much so we put ranch on theirs.
After the salad I served dinner. We had a Sicilian Beef Roll with polenta triangles and mushroom sauce. (Glorified meatloaf. By the way, thank you Aunt Sy for the Junior League Cookbook that you gave us for our wedding.) It was way good. A LOT of food, but yummy. I think Spencer was the only one of us that actually finished the plate.
After dinner we skyped with his parents for a while. He opened his present while we were skyping. Like I said, he is the worst to shop for. I remembered something that our cousin, Rachel did for her husband once and so what I ended up doing was getting him a gift certificate to this indoor skydiving place we have here in Denver. He seemed real excited about it. I'm glad that I FINALLY got him something that he will enjoy. (Thank you Rachel for the idea.) We even sang to him while they were on skype, it was pretty neat.
This years cake was a different one, but delicious none the less. It was a lemon cake with lemon coconut cream cheese icing and covered with toasted coconut:
Well, we are back from our fabulous cruise. We've actually been back for a week, but it has been a chaotic week to get anything done so today I am finally able to blog about our cruise.
We had such a WONDERFUL time. Although, I do believe it is my last cruise. The "motion of the ocean" sorta got to me for the majority of our trip. I had to be doped up on Dramamine and therefore slept a lot. But we still had fun. The pictures of the islands are in collages so look at them good because I am going to talk about things in the pictures. Also, I am going to just put in random ocean photos throughout the post. We were obsessed with the way the ocean looked.
Before I start, I want to give a PROFOUND thank you to my brother Shaun and his family for making that sacrifice for us. We never worried because we knew the kids were in great hands. Thank you SO much!
On our Way
We left VERY early on a Thursday morning, the 5th. My brother Shaun flew in the night before so that he could help my mom with the kids while we were gone. It was really exciting because I haven't been any further East than a Podunk city in Kansas to pick up our beef from a meat locker. Also, it was the longest flight that I had ever taken. Lots of firsts. Spencer and I flew "first class" on Frontier. What that meant was that we got to check in two bags per person with out any charge, we sat up in the front of the cabin, and we got to watch their TV for free. It was nice.
As we were approaching Fort Lauderdale we were surprised at how much water surrounded the homes.
Every home had water in their backyard, it was so interesting. We then had to fly over the airport, over the ocean, and then we turned around to land at the airport. I have to admit that when we were over the water an unease arose inside of me. Safe to say, I feel much safer over land, not water.
We were able to see our ship from the plane (picture is in the collage coming up) and it got us really excited. We got off the plane and we had paid for transport to the ship from the airport. After we got our bags we had to wait for the bus. While we were waiting we had a little visitor that was quite a surprise to us:
It was so odd seeing birds walking around in the airport. The lady told us it was because of the automatic doors because when they open then the birds fly in and they can't fly out.
I guess they get their food from people eating on the go.
The bus finally came and it was about a 7 minute drive from the airport to the dock, it was really close. We were able to walk onto the ship after going through about 3 check points, worse than an airport. The ship was HUGE! I was overwhelmed by how big it was. I knew it would be big, but you never realize how big until you are right up against one. I felt like and ant.
Setting Sail
When we got to our room we were still so wiped out from getting up at 4 am that we decided to take a little nap. When we woke up we were just setting sail and the sunset was just stunning. The majority of the pictures are taken from our balcony. The one of the ship and the one in the top left corner is from the plane coming in, and the sunset one with the plain flying in and the one in the center on the bottom is from the sun deck of the ship.
Our Room
The room was actually smaller than I thought it would be. I don't know how more than 2 people could share a room. This is Spencer standing in our bathroom,
Definitely NOT meant for more than one person to be in....VERY crowded.
This is our balcony:
It was so nice having a balcony. The first half of the cruise we would sleep with the door propped open and it would cool our room and we would fall asleep to the sound of the ocean. It was blissful. I slept really good those nights. Unfortunately as we got closer to the equator it got too warm and humid to leave it open and then on the way home we couldn't really leave it open because our neighbors around us decided to carry on loud conversations on their balconies and the smokers had their fixes.
This is our room:
Like I said, it was really small. I took the picture standing at our balcony.
Our Boat
When we were on our way, we decided to explore the ship.
It was so easy to get lost on that thing. Thank heavens they had the deck numbers on the carpet when you got off the elevators and when you reached the top of the stairs. Not to mention the "you are here" signs on every floor around every corner. Every night and through out the day they had photographers offering to take your picture in front of a backdrop. Spencer and I finally decided to opt out of the picture sessions. They felt weird anyway, they would pose us in high school prom poses and it was physically uncomfortable.
Fun on the Ship
There were some fun things to do on the ship, but the majority of the "fun" happened at 3 am when Spencer and I were watching the back of our eyelids and usually was for people that drank and gambled. We did find some things to do though.
We started off sunning ourselves since parts of our skin hadn't seen sun since the beginning of time. We knew that we had to get used to the sun before we set foot on any of the islands or else we would burn to a crisp. Spencer quickly found the library and checked out a book that he actually finished and we started to get some sun.
They have "Elegant Night" where you dress up in your fancy clothes and then party. We actually had two on this trip so one night we got kiddie cocktails and the other we went to Nick and Nora's.
We saw a couple of comedians, one in particular was very funny and he juggled too. He was from Korea and could juggle just about anything, it was really awesome.
The food wasn't too bad. We ate breakfast and lunch everyday at the buffet and at night we went to Bacchus Restaurant for dinner. Nick and Nora's was the best though. Spencer ate his first Reuben sandwich on the ship and didn't think it was too bad (he HATES sauerkraut). They also had 24 hour soft serve ice cream that we took advantage of. It was very refreshing.
They had ice carving one day. I wasn't going to go, but then I decided to go and I'm glad that I went because he carved the ice in 20 minutes by hand, no power tools like I had previously seen.
We played miniature golf towards the end of the cruise because we had had enough of sunning ourselves. They also pulled out the chocolate fountain the day before we got home.
When we would go into our room after they would freshen it we would have little "visitors". They would make things with towels and it was fun to see what would be awaiting us every time we would come back from being on an island, breakfast, or dinner.
St Maarten
St Maarten was the first island we visited. It was such a fun place!
We went horseback riding there and we got to swim with horses in the ocean, that was my favorite part of horseback riding. My horses name was Hercules and Spencer rode his mom so all he did was follow her until it was time to go into the water. They try to match your experience up with the right horse, but I think they matched the personalities or traits up with the horses. Spencer's horse had gas so bad. I never smelled anything, but I sure heard it. Mine was stubborn! When it was time to get into the water my horse just sat there and wanted to eat. He would not budge. It was the funniest thing.
After we rode horses we caught a water taxi to the beach. It was so much fun. As soon as we stepped off the pier a lady caught me and offered to braid my hair. I told her I would think about it, my hair had been driving me a little bonkers because of the wind and humidity it wouldn't stay in the pony tail. She pulled me off to the side and said that she would do a couple to see if I liked it and before I knew it my whole head was done.
I'm so glad I got it done though because it saved me a lot of frustration. Anyway, while she was pulling me off to sit me down another lady was following us holding up a really pretty dress that I had commented on. I ended up buying it because I couldn't say no. I was afraid that I would hurt feelings. Well, lesson learned. I started to say no after that.
We shopped a little and then ate lunch at a beach side restaurant. We then went for a swim and collected a plethora of shells for our girls. While we were in the water, I was wearing my sunglasses that attach to my glasses, Spencer noticed that I no longer had my sunglasses on. I was absolutely sick to my stomach and really bummed out that I lost them. They were the only pair I had brought because I had forgotten my extra pair at home. I felt all over the bottom for them and then we finally decided to get out of the water. On our way out I hear, "Sierra! How much do you love me right now?!" I turn around and he is holding my sunglasses. It was a miracle!!! Neither one of us could believe that he had found them. He had felt them and thought that it was an odd sea shell, but it wasn't a sea shell!!! Boy, my mood sure picked up after that.
We caught the last water taxi back to the ship and on the way back one of the workers reminded me a lot of Bill Cosby. His picture is in the collage. On our way back to the ship there was some really awesome music going on.
When we got back to the ship we got showered and went up to the sun deck to watch us depart. It was such a beautiful night.
This is the best picture of the moon I have ever taken and it was the "Moon over St Maarten" (you know, like "Moon over Miami". Tee Hee). Anyway, it was a fun filled, exhausting day. We had a lot of fun.
St Lucia
On our way into St Lucia we could see neighboring islands. This is a picture of one we saw that had this cool looking rock that looked like a gateway of some sorts from a distance:
We had booked a tour on St Lucia, that's why in the collage of pictures it is mostly scenery. Anyway, we were really glad to have done the tour because we were really tired from the day before in St Maarten.
We started on this tour and Spencer and I quickly realized that it was more of a "geriatric" excursion. Spencer and I and one more couple were the only "young" ones on the tour. It was pretty funny.
We started off by going up this hill that I wouldn't even call a hill, more like a quick drop off the mountain that was made into a road. It was called Stone Hill, I don't know why, but it should have been named something more on the lines of, "You think you can drive up me? Go ahead, give it a try" Hill. Our driver said the motto of the tour was "Don't worry, be happy" because we were going up steep windy roads, around sharp corners, and coming within an inch of every car we passed. Not to mention they drive on the left side of the road there. Ya, scary.
The views were amazing. We started by going to this private residence that served us some refreshments. They had these fish fritter kind of things, I forgot the real name, but they were SO good! They served them with the island's infamous banana ketchup, yes banana ketchup, and their hot sauce. Spencer got a bottle of each. I personally didn't care for the ketchup and I didn't even go near the hot sauce. We were free to roam the grounds, the majority of the scenic views and flower pictures in the collage are from that house.
After the private residence we went driving ALL around the place. It was very bumpy and windy, but I survived....barely. We visited the islands batik shop where they make batik fabric. The picture of the sunset with the ship in the back ground that I took a picture of is actually fabric hand dyed at that shop. I learned how they make that style of fabric, my sister and my mom are obsessed with it. It was really interesting actually. They hand paint and/or stamp this white fabric with wax. Then they dye it in however many dyes they decide and then they boil the fabric to get the wax out. This is a picture of a batik dress:
The orange part is the batik fabric.
Then we took a tour of the college grounds. What is interesting is that all the schools, even the college is uniform enforced. The college has 3 different uniforms and the color uniform you wear is what you are studying in school, such as the blue is medical, black and white is hospitality, and the brown is agriculture. Also, there are banana plantations all over the island and we learned that a banana tree only produces fruit once and then is cut down and then feeds other banana trees, or something like that. In one of the pictures in the collage, there are blue bags in the trees, they do that to keep the birds from sucking the nectar from the banana flowers. Very interesting and informative.
This is a picture of the State Fruit.
I don't know what it is called, but it in inedible. They actually use the fruit husks for bowls and baskets.
We drove downtown and I saw this building.
I thought it was so interesting because it was the exact same colors as the sky and the ocean.
We made it back to the ship and I was ready to call it a day!
St Kitts
St Kitts was the last island we visited and I think it was my favorite. We had booked a snorkel and kayaking excursion on this island so we were VERY grateful that we had the tour in St Lucia the day before to rest up and preserve our energy.
When we got off the ship we went through the gates and the first thing we saw were these men with little monkeys letting people hold them. We just about died, they were SO cute!! I started taking pictures and this guy came up and the monkeys jumped onto Spencer. I took some pictures and then he brought them over to me to hold. Their little hands were SO soft and they were so cute, I started wanting a monkey. After Spencer took some pictures of me holding them, we gave them back and said thank you. The man looked at us and said, "Ten dollar." Ah, now we understood. That was the island of "NO!" So many people wanting us to buy and pay. It was overwhelming at times.
We started by shopping first and then we hopped on a bus to go to our snorkel site. Incredibly beautiful island. Wow!! The bus driver was really funny and friendly. It was so much fun. She took us on a little tour before and after our snorkel and kayaking. At one point she stopped so that we could take pictures. There is a picture of Spencer in the collage where he is standing between two bodies of water, the one on the left (the really blue one) is the Atlantic Ocean and the one on the right (the more pastel) is the Caribbean Sea. They said that the Americans like the Atlantic side because they like to be wild. The Atlantic Ocean is way more wild than the Caribbean Sea. Spencer said he heard that it was colder too. Glad we didn't go swimming in the Atlantic!
Anyway, we made it to our site and we snorkeled first. The guide was so dang funny. EVERYTHING he told us he would then follow it with "It will not kill you, BUT........it will hurt like hell." He was so funny. There is a picture of him in the collage. Spencer put the snorkel in his mouth and jumped in, then he started to choke. It was hilarious. I know that sounds bad, but it was. We saw a load of awesome fish. Especially at the surface, we saw these little silver and blue fish, just TONS of them and when you would poke out your head just slightly you could see them jumping out of the water. It was pretty surreal.
After we snorkeled for about 30 minutes, we then set off on our kayak. Spencer was in front and I was in the back, the rudder. Spencer thought he could steer the kayak from the front and kept sending us right instead of ahead. He was so funny. We kayaked about 2 miles to a black sand beach that was stunning. There we ate some local refreshments. We had fresh coconut that our guide had cracked open himself waiting for us, star fruit, grapefruit, tamarind balls, pineapple, fresh guava and passion fruit juices, and these roll things:
There was a coconut one and a raisin one, both of which were good, but the coconut one was divine!!! I could have eaten that whole plate of them. Wish I knew how to make them. The guide told us not to wash our feet off in the ocean because it would make the sand stick and to instead let it dry, so then what does Spencer do...he goes and washes his feet in the ocean. We barely made it to the bus to go back to the pier and when we got to the bus the driver was really funny. She told Spencer that now she will beat him (she was beating our shoes clean and brushing the sand off our feet) because he didn't listen. It was really funny.
We got back to the pier just in time to get back on the ship when we were supposed to. It was a good thing because we were tired.
Coming Home
By the end of visiting all the islands we were ready to start coming home. I REALLY missed the kids. We made sure to Skype every night with them, but towards the end I was needing some mommy time.
We had a really spectacular sunset the night before our last. We had a couple ships within our sights for the last day and when we awoke on that Friday the 13th, they were right behind us rolling into Fort Lauderdale. We got there while the sun was rising, but it was overcast so we got some red sky on that morning.
We got off the ship before 8 am and made it to the airport by 8....our flight left at 1 pm. We had to wait a while. We couldn't check our bags until 10:30 so we just sat around checking our email and facebook because we were finally able to use Internet without being charged. Boy! They sure know where to ding people with expenses on the ship! The Internet on the ship cost $.75/min. We just used it for the Skype, but it put a dent in our wallet for sure. We flew "first class" again which was nice because coming home we ended up checking 3 bags and it didn't cost a thing. Coming we only had 2. The souvenirs get ya!
We got home at about 4:30 pm and it was such a relief. It was a VERY long flight home. My brother had brought the girls in the car and I just couldn't stop kissing them, I missed them so much. When I walked through the door Reed was sitting on the couch and when he saw me he got a huge smile on his face. Just melted me right there.
We had such a great time. I am SO glad that we were able to go. Now I can FINALLY say that I have been somewhere other than Utah, Colorado, California, Arizona, and Idaho. I have officially been out of the country for longer than 4 hours. I'm an adventurer!
